[Micronuclei induced by chronic inhalation of SO2 in mouse bone marrow cells].

In the chronic inhalation experiment of sulfur dioxide(SO2), micronuclei(MN) frequencies in the polychromatophilic erythroblasts(PCE) of mouse bone marrow and the frequencies of cells with MN were significantly increased in dose-dependent manner. There was a significant difference between the male and the female animals. The results also showed that SO2 inhibited urethone-induced MN formation. These results furtherly confirm that SO2 inhalation was a clastogenic and genotoxic agent to mammalian cells, and the combined effects of SO2 and other mutagens are complex.